As a general rule, I publish all submitted comments with the exception of advertising spam, because I believe it is important to let the "other side" reveal itself, as well as proving that I am confident enough in the justness of this cause to allow contrary voices to have their say on my own blog.
However, today I rejected a comment which was not from an advertiser, but rather from a blogger with a very different agenda than my own. The author, "Bengal Under Attack," wanted me to post a comment directing readers to the following link to his own blog post:
900% Growth of Islamic Population
I admit that it may seem perverse to refuse to publish a comment, and then to turn around and devote one of my own posts to the very same link. However, I want my reasons for refusing to post his comment to be clear. Given the recent events in Mumbai, and the continued threat to world peace posed by Islamic terrorism, the last thing I want to do is to provide ammunition to those who would distort my silence on this issue as either ignorance of the genuine threat we all face from Islamist terror, or even tacit support for their cause. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I could have merely noted that his primary concern is the Indian subcontinent and left it at that, but even a cursory read of his article reveals that he considers Islam--and Muslims--to be a threat in all places at all times in all situations. In the opinion of the author, Muslims are a threat to us not because of a confluence of religious fundamentalism and geopolitical realities, but simply because they are breeding so quickly. I trust I do not need to expend effort and bandwidth explaining what I think of this kind of logic.
One more thing--it is worth noting which of my now more than 400 posts the author chose to comment on. It was not a recent post; rather, it was this one from June 28 of this year:
"The Nationalist Serbian Intellectuals and Islam: Defining and Eliminating a Muslim Community" by Norman Cigar
It is just possible that the author, seeking to post in as many blogs as possible, simply did a quick search for "Islam" or "Muslim" and/or other keywords, and simply pasted the same generic comment into each link he found without regard for the content of the post he was "commenting" on. Although, in that case, I find it odd that he would have only posted in one, six-month old post on my blog--especially when one considers that I have used the label "Islam" 20 times and "Muslim" an additional 21 times prior to this post.
So one has to wonder about the agenda of an author who would search for a six-month old post examining the racist ideology supporting the genocide of a Muslim community only to link to an article decrying the higher birthrate among Muslims compared to non-Muslims. But, I would argue, one needn't wonder for terribly long.
4 comments:
the comment came through a google search and it's really a form of spam... an automatic comment in order to promote a site or blog.
the argument of demography is widely used by serb nationalists against albanians and muslims in general, it's disgusting. the same nationalists then go on a stigmatize serbian women as traitors to the nation because of their low birth rate...
Kirk, my feeling about this sort of stuff is that it's the equivalent of fraud. An argument between two individuals expressing their genuine disagreement, even in abrasive terms, is one thing. Wilfully disseminating misleading propaganda is another matter. That is a form of fraud which requires no tolerance except where it's useful as a means of exposing the nature or motives of the perpetrator. No need for any explanations.
As long as people don't deny genocide, I will never censor their comments. If they have questions, they can go ahead ask any questions they like, as long as they don't deny genocide.
Интересное замечание.
Post a Comment